Fired Anchor A.J. Clemente Surprisingly Cool After Screwup, Firing

Fired anchor A.J. Clemente suffered a publicly humiliating messup this week when he accidentally uttered the words “f***ing s**t” on live broadcast television, and predictably lost his job for it — but the newbie talking head has some refreshing perspective and humility over the unfortunate situation.

It’s easy to identify with Clemente because who among us doesn’t accidentally or injudiciously swear from time to time, when frustrated?

While our cussing accidents aren’t immediately clipped on YouTube, Clemente was unfortunate to have his streamed in real time.

But the fired anchor is pretty cool about it all, and A.J. Clemente sat down this morning to discuss his worst week ever with Savannah Guthrie on Today.

Speaking with Lauer and Guthrie about his catastrophic mistake, Clemente took full responsibility and even essentially gave props to the dude who had to fire him over the swearing screwup.

Of the dustup, Clemente says he had no idea the bit was broadcast until several breaks had passed:

“I didn’t even know I said it on camera until my news director walked in on the third break.”

But A.J. Clemente also admits he knew right away the cussing meant curtains for his tenure at the network — the fired anchor pragmatically admits:

“I fully expected that they would fire me … I even called my news director after and apologized again. No animosity at all.”

So is Clemente drowning his sorrows and looking at chef school?

Nah. He is gonna get back on the broadcast horse, he says, despite the embarrassing slipup:

“I’m looking forward, moving forward … You got to have a tough skin in this business, and it’s good to laugh at yourself.”

And it seems like Clemente might make a career out of doing just that: After his visit to the Today Show, Clemente stopped by both Morning Joe and Live with Kelly and Michael where he got to hang out with both Jon Hamm and Snoop Lion.

Even his former (one-time) co-anchor Van Tieu is certain Clemente will be all set. “Just saw your @todayshow seg @ClementeAJ,” she tweeted. “Didn’t I tell you it would all work out for the better?”

A former coworker of the fired anchor said of her erstwhile colleague’s morning TV circuit:

Just saw your @todayshow seg @clementeaj. Didn’t I tell you it would all work out for the better?